The following exchange between Michael Carriere and Alex Knight
occurred via email, July 2010. Alex Knight was questioned about the End
of Capitalism Theory, which states that the global capitalist system is
breaking down due to ecological and social limits to growth and that a
paradigm shift toward a non-capitalist future is underway.

The interview will be available in four parts. Scroll to the bottom to read all of Prof. Carriere's questions.

Part 1. Crisis and Opportunity

MC: The current financial crisis is clearly a
moment of peril for both individuals and the broader system of
capitalism. But would it also make sense to see it as a moment of
opportunity?

AK: Absolutely. I see opportunity springing from
every crack in the structure of capitalism. For all those who wish to
see a different world, this moment is dripping with opportunity because
the old order is crumbling before our eyes.

The crisis extends far beyond the broken financial system. Millions
of people are losing their jobs, homes, and savings as the burden of
the crisis gets shifted onto the poor and working class. Public faith
in the system, both the government and the capitalist economy, has been
shattered and is at an all-time low. And it's not just the economic
crisis. The bank bailouts, the endless wars in the Mid East, the BP
spill and the meltdown of the climate, and about a dozen other crises
have shaken us deeply. It's become common sense that the system is
broken and a major change is needed. Barack Obama was elected in the US
precisely by promising this change. Now that he is failing to deliver,
more and more people are questioning whether the system can provide any
solutions, or whether it's actually the source of the problem.

Shattered faith is the dominant sentiment today. You can see it in
people's faces the disappointment, grief, worry, and anger. To me,
this loss of faith presents an enormous opening for putting forth a
new, non-capitalist way of life. People are ready to hear radical
solutions now, like they haven't been since the Great Depression.

Historic Crossroads

If we go back to 1929, we'll see some interesting parallels to our
current moment. When that depression started, millions lost their
livelihoods to pay for the bankers' crisis. Faith in capitalism sunk to
rock bottom. The public flocked to two major ideologies that offered a
way out: socialism and fascism.

Socialism presented a solution to the crisis by saying, roughly:
"Capitalism is flawed because it divides us into rich and poor, and the
rich always take advantage of the poor. We need to organize the poor
and workers into unions and political parties so we can take power for
the benefit of all."

Socialism attracted millions of followers, even in the United
States. The labor movement was enormous and kept gaining ground through
sit-down strikes and other forms of direct action. The Communist Party
sent thousands of organizers into the new CIO, at the time a more
radical union than the AFL. Socialist viewpoints even started getting
through to the mass media and government. Huey Long
was elected Senator from Louisiana by promising to "Share Our Wealth,"
to radically redistribute the wealth of the country to abolish poverty
and unemployment. (He was assassinated.) Socialism challenged President
Roosevelt from the left, pushing him to create the social safety net of
the New Deal.

On the other side, fascism also emerged as a serious force and
attracted a mass following by putting forth something like the
following: "The government has sold us out. We are a great nation, but
we have been disgraced by liberal elites who are pillaging our economy
for the benefit of foreign enemies, dangerous socialists, and
undesirable elements (like Jews). We need to restore our national honor
and fulfill our God-given mission."

When people hear the word fascism, they usually think of Nazi
Germany or Mussolini's Italy, where successful fascist movements seized
state power and implemented totalitarian control of society. Yet
fascism was an international phenomenon during the Depression, and the
United States was not immune to its reach. General Smedley Butler,
the most decorated Marine in US history, testified before the Senate
that wealthy industrialists had approached him as part of a "Business
Plot" and tried to convince him to march an army of 500,000 veterans on
Washington, DC to install a fascist dictatorship.

Today we are approaching a similar crossroads. When I hear the story
of the Business Plot I think about the Tea Party, which has sprung from
a base of white supremacist anger, facilitated by right-wing elements
of the corporate structure like Fox News. This is an extremely
dangerous phenomenon. The "teabaggers" have moved from questioning
Obama's citizenship, to now trying to reverse the gains of the Civil
Rights Movement, such as the ability of everyone, regardless of color,
to enjoy public accommodations like restaurants.

I think it's fair to name the Tea Party, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin,
the Christian Right, etc. parts of a potential neo-fascist movement in
the United States. Their words and actions too often encourage attacks
on people of color, immigrants, Muslims, LGBT folks, and anyone they
don't see as legitimate members of US society. Ultimately, many in this
movement are pushing for a different social system taking power in the
United States: one that is more authoritarian, less compassionate, more
exploitive of the environment, more militaristic, and based on a
mythical return to national glory. This is not a throwback to Nazi
Germany. It's a new kind of fascism, a new American fascism. And it's a
serious threat.

On the other hand, this crisis is also an opportunity for all of us
who see capitalism as a destructive force and believe the message of
the recent U.S. Social Forum
that "Another World is Possible. Another US is Necessary." "Socialism"
in the post-McCarthy/Cold War era of the United States is a dead word,
because it carries a lot of baggage from the Soviet Union. Rightly so,
the USSR was a terrible dictatorship that is hardly an example to
follow. The question is, how do those of us who are progressive and
anti-capitalist articulate our ideas to resonate with a mass audience
in this moment?

Alex Knight is a proponent of the End of Capitalism Theory, which states that the global capitalist system is breaking down due to ecological and social limits to growth and that a paradigm shift toward a non-capitalist future is underway. He is (more...)